‘They were terrified’: Worker tells of colleagues’ distress at machete brawl in Broadmeadows shopping centre

Horrified Broadmeadows shoppers watched on as two masked assailants wielding machetes fought inside a shopping centre on Friday night.

A fight between two groups broke out in the Broadmeadows Central shopping centre car park about 7.20pm on Friday and moved inside the centre, which is about 15 kilometres north of the Melbourne CBD.

In footage of the incident posted online, onlookers can be seen hiding inside locked storefronts and screaming as two people clad in black swing their machetes at each other from a distance.

In a separate video, a male holding a chair is seen trying to get between the two.

The fighters then fled the scene and the groups drove away in a silver Honda and white Mazda before police arrived.

There have been no arrests and no reported injuries.

A police spokeswoman confirmed that detectives were investigating a fight between two groups that started in a car park on Pascoe Vale Road.

In a post online, one woman who was locked inside a shop as the fight raged said the “fear in the centre was real”.

“When it was finally safe to leave, all I could see were terrified faces, people crying, shaken and in shock,” she said on Instagram.

An employee of a nearby store, who did not want to be identified, said he left just before the brawl began but received a phone call from distressed co-workers.

“They were terrified. I heard the shivering in the way they were talking,” he said.

“They were very scared and didn’t know what to do, so I tried to calm them down and told them they knew how to act – closing the door straight away when they felt any danger for their own safety.”

The man said he checked back in with his co-workers a few hours later and, after the initial distress, they felt much better.

“This isn’t the first time something like this has happened at the shopping centre,” he said. “The only difference is this time it was literally in front of them.”

The fight is the latest in a string of incidents at Broadmeadows shopping centre. On September 28, a 22-year-old was shot outside the building and taken to hospital with serious injuries.

A 26-year-old Roxburgh Park man and a 31-year-old Glenroy man were arrested in connection with the alleged shooting.

Today, after questions from this masthead, police confirmed the 26-year-old had been charged with attempted murder. He will remain behind bars until his next court appearance in January.

On September 24, two groups of men were filmed fighting in the Broadmeadows Central car park with machetes, and one man was taken to hospital, according to Seven News.

The man said he was worried crime and danger were becoming normalised in the area – the way it had been when he lived in the Middle East.

“People got used to, where I came from, the violence, and they knew straight away how to deal with it,” he said. “I don’t want people around here to get used to the same sort of stuff I got used to.”

In a statement, Broadmeadows Central said it did not tolerate “criminal or antisocial behaviour” on its premises and was assisting police with their investigation into Friday night’s fracas.

The centre opened for trade as usual on Saturday with an increased security presence.

“We understand this has been distressing for our customers and retail teams, and want to thank everyone for their support,” the centre stated on Instagram.

Victoria is grappling with its highest youth crime rate since electronic records began.

Opposition Leader Brad Battin said crime continued to be too high. “My reaction is the same as each and every other person in Victoria,” Battin told reporters on Saturday.

“As a father, I like to think I can drop my kids off at the local shopping centre, they can go to the movies or go shopping and be safe. I’m starting to question that, and I’m not alone.”

In response, a state government spokesperson said: “This brazen, shocking behaviour is completely unacceptable and has no place here. Victoria Police is investigating and we are confident these people will be found and dealt with. We’ve implemented tougher laws to back the work of Victoria Police who are arresting a record number of offenders.”

The government fast-tracked laws banning machetes after an armed brawl between youth gangs at Northland Shopping Centre in Preston in May.

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